[OVERVIEW}
Umbreon boasts some of the best defensive stats of all Pokemon in the OU tier. Access to various types of support moves allows it to fit a niche role in a team—Mean Look to guarantee a free entry against an opposing Pokemon of your choice, Wish to heal its teammates, Heal Bell to remove status, Taunt to shut down opposing support Pokemon, and stat-dropping moves such as Fake Tears, Screech, and Charm to force switches. Its ability, Synchronize, also allows it to inflict a status ailment like burn, paralysis, poison, or badly poisoned that occurs due to a primary or secondary effect of a move. It is one of the few Pokemon that can use Wish + Protect + Pursuit in one set in order to be able to take out Psychic- and Ghost-types a lot more reliably, with Choice Scarf Tyranitar being the other Pokemon that is commonly used to to take out Psychic and Ghost-types.
However, despite all of the support Umbreon can offer, it hardly ever sees any usage in OU. The reasons for this include Umbreon's passivity, since it has only base 65 Attack and an even lower base 60 Special Attack. Umbreon is also vulnerable to all forms of entry hazards; as well as prevalent sand, which not only inflicts chip damage but most importantly also halves the amount that Umbreon can heal through its only instant-healing move, Moonlight. Tyranitar, which also is one of the more common Pokemon to set sand, also gives Umbreon a lot of competition as one of the better Dark-types in the tier. Umbreon also used to see some usage when Baton Pass was around in DPP, but the move's ban explains Umbreon's lesser usage as well. All of this suggests to players that there may be better defensive options for them to run over Umbreon.
[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Wish
move 2: Protect
move 3: Payback
move 4: Curse
item: Leftovers
ability: Synchronize
nature: Careful
eVs: 252 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
[Set Comments]
Moves
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This set is capable of enhancing Umbreon's strengths and weaknesses while also giving it more longevity. Curse boosts the power of Payback, which allows Umbreon to hit the foe with a move that has an effective Base Power of 150, since Umbreon generally tends to move last because of its low Speed, which Curse lowers even further. Curse also helps Umbreon boost its physical bulk, which is what most Pokemon will try to target, since physical moves such as Superpower and Close Combat are what usually can OHKO Umbreon. Wish + Protect helps Umbreon heal while also being able to heal up its teammates or scout for a set on an opposing Pokemon. A lot of bulky offense teams will also rely on Explosion to stop a Curse Umbreon, and Protect can be helpful in such a situation.
Set Details
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Leftovers helps keep Umbreon healthy and negate sand damage. A Careful nature with maximum HP and Special Defense investment allows Umbreon to not worry about special attackers; very few Pokemon are capable of threatening Umbreon with a special move, and one of that would be, Focus Blast Gengar, can be OHKOed with Payback. Pokemon such as Infernape and Lucario can also carry Focus Blast, but they more commonly run the physical counterpart, Close Combat.
Usage Tips
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It is possible for Umbreon to set up versus special attackers like Starmie and non Will-O-Wisp-Rotom or against a Tyranitar that is Choice-locked into a move like Crunch or Pursuit. If the opponent uses a move that causes limited damage to Umbreon, like Crunch or Pursuit, the best option would be to set up with Curse at that point. However, if it is a move that is capable of inflicting 30% or higher damage, it would be better to use Wish. The goal is to keep setting up while using Wish to heal Umbreon from any damage it takes and then potentially sweep an opposing team. Umbreon can also use Latias as a Pokemon to set up on, but it needs to be wary of Toxic or Trick. It is important that if the opponent runs a Skarmory or another Steel-type, you need to take it out before you reveal that your Umbreon is running the Curse set, as that would cue to your opponent to try to preserve their Steel-types longer than they should.
Team Options
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Steel-types are what heavily punish Umbreon, as they will always be able to safely switch into it as Umbreon is passive and cannot affect them due to Umbreon being passive and unable to affect them with a status move like Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp. Magnezone aids Umbreon in this regard by trapping Skarmory and Scizor, as well as Lucario if Lucario is running a physical set and Magnezone is using Choice Scarf. Umbreon could pair itself with a Heal Bell or Aromatherapy user in order to remove a status like burn or poison, which will prevent it from potentially sweeping by reducing its damage output or gradually causing it to faint. Other Pokemon that can safely switch into Umbreon would be Breloom and Leftovers Heatran. The former can threaten it with Spore or a combination of Substitute + Focus punch, so having a Pokemon to absorb the Spore and the hit would be nice. Zapdos, Latias, and Celebi are among a few that can take on Breloom, but make sure that they don't take the Spore. By looking at what all Pokemon your opponent has revealed and by predicting what the unrevealed Pokemon, if any, of your opponent would be, you can determine what Pokemon in your team would have the least impact against the opposing team and let that Pokemon absorb the Spore. Heatran can be handled by Milotic and Clefable. Clefable especially is a good option to handle the Leftovers variant with Knock Off, limiting the number of times Heatran can come onto the field. Since physical Fighting-types are quite common in the tier, Umbreon with teammates to take on such users is helpful. Bold Rotom and Jolly Gliscor can take on Lucario, but they still would need to worry about Lucario running Crunch or Shuca Berry with Ice Punch, respectively. Latias can handle Infernape. Nidoqueen is especially a nice option, as it helps absorb Toxic Spikes on the field.
[Strategy Comments]
Other Options
=======
Umbreon can also run Heal Bell + Pursuit alongside Wish + Protect, helping it deal with various variants of Gengar. Will-O-Wisp Gengar gets punished because of Umbreon's ability, Synchronize, if it uses the move, and the combination of Heal Bell and Pursuit allows Umbreon to remove that status and trap Gengar. Umbreon can also use Pursuit to trap Starmie and Choice Specs or Choice Scarf Latias. It has to be careful when those Pokemon use their powerful STAB moves because it could put Umbreon in a range where it may need to use Wish to heal, thereby forcing a mind game between using Wish on the Starmie or Latias potentially staying in or Pursuit on those two switching out. Instead of using Wish + Protect on the Curse set, one could opt for the combination of Rest + Sleep Talk to negate the need for a Heal Bell user, as Rest already allows it to eliminate status ailments such as burn, paralysis, and poison; however, a Heal Bell user could still be helpful with allowing Umbreon to wake up immediately or curing it of freeze.
Checks & Counters
=======
**Steel-types**: Almost every Steel-type, like Skarmory, Jirachi, Lucario, Scizor, or Heatran, can come in and punish Umbreon. Skarmory can assuredly set an entry hazard and inflict Taunt on Umbreon before it can use Taunt back because of its higher Speed. Jirachi can inflict Toxic on Umbreon or possibly set up on if running a bulky Calm Mind set. Scizor and Lucario usually get a free Swords Dance, which can make them threatening. Heatran has access to burn-inducing moves like Will-O-Wisp and Lava Plume, can cripple Umbreon with Toxic, shut it down with Taunt, take it down with Explosion, or even use Metal Sound to cause Special Defense drops so that it can beat Umbreon with a Fire-type move such as Flamethrower.
**Fighting-types**: Pokemon like Machamp, Heracross, and Infernape threaten Umbreon with their powerful physical Fighting-type moves. They may need to be careful of Umbreon carrying Toxic, though. One of the best Fighting-type switch-ins to Umbreon would be a Poison Heal Breloom. Breloom can come in freely on Umbreon, and it behind a Substitute is one of the most threatening Pokemon in the metagame.
**Taunt Users**: Taunt users like Gliscor can stop Umbreon if sand is up, as it negates Umbreon's Leftovers recovery and Umbreon's low damage output, by blocking its recovery with Taunt and using Earthquake to defeat it. A Gliscor with Knock Off will help it even further in beating Umbreon, as it will remove Umbreon's Leftovers.
**Phazers**: Pokemon like Hippowdon, Skarmory, and Milotic can negate Umbreon's Curse boosts. Hippowdon and Skarmory can remove it from the field with Whirlwind, whereas Milotic can use Haze to clear any state changes. Umbreon's low base Attack will not be enough to threaten these Pokemon when they try to negate its stat boosts.
**Trick and Status Users**: Pokemon like Latias and Rotom, which are among the few that Umbreon can switch into and set up on, can possibly defeat all variants of Umbreon by using Trick on it or defeat Curse Umbreon with status moves like Toxic or Will-O-Wisp.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[DeepBlueC, 307789]]
- Quality checked by: [[Sakito, 433460], [god mami chan, 456373]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Estronic, 240732]]
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